Saturday, May 6, 2017

Slow Saturday Obsessions

With all due respect, the argument is utter insanity. He is not responsible for the mismanagement in the state legi$lature, and the recent passage of the House health bill (repeal of Obummercare needed to free up loot for tax measures) is so far away from being law it is ridiculous to insinuate it into the current crisis surrounding the never-ending shell game of state finances. Perhaps you see now why I often dismiss "news analysis" or "quick study" out of hand. It's not a serious discussion.

MILFORD — On Easter Sunday, a distraught relative cradled 4-year-old Jonathan Loja as he lay bleeding in the middle of Water Street, struck by a driver who didn’t stop. He died in the hospital soon after.

The next morning, Melissa Knight, 54, drove her Chevrolet Traverse to a local car wash and had the entire SUV cleaned, including the undercarriage.

That was the first step Knight took to rid her vehicle of evidence that she had struck Loja, Assistant Worcester District Attorney Anthony Melia said in court Friday.

“The calculated, measured steps that this woman took for the past 20 days to distance herself from the death of a 4-year-old borders on appalling,” Melia said. “The level of callousness involved to leave a 4-year-old child to die in the middle of the road, and then to lie about it and attempt to cover it up, is inhuman. No decent human being would ever do that.”In no way am I minimizing this loss and tragedy; however, the DAs statement is strange in light of the water crisis and the mass-murdering war criminals authorizing bombs and missiles to be dropped on people.

Defense attorney Richard J. Rafferty said Knight, a lifelong resident of Milford, is the mother of two adult children and has two jobs, including one as an administrator for Lasell College’s educational program. He said she also takes care of her mother, who has health issues....Two sides to every story, and I'm sure certain mon$ters are wonderful people at fund-raisers.

In a sudden reversal, federal authorities agreed Friday to free a national of the Dominican Republic who was arrested by immigration authorities in March at a government office in Lawrence while filing paperwork to become a legal US resident.

The decision was made as US District Judge Mark L. Wolf suggested he was willing to overrule immigration authorities and order the man’s release or order that he be entitled to a bond hearing, saying the man was deprived of due process rights when he was arrested and detained for close to 40 days.

Lawyers for Leandro Omar Arriaga celebrated the settlement they reached with the federal authorities, which will allow the 43-year-old to return to his wife and four children by noon Monday.

“I hope it sends the message that individuals in our country are entitled to due process of law, and that there are attorneys in this city who will stand up for that when it’s being challenged by government activity,” said Daniel L. McFadden, an attorney at Foley Hoag LLP.

Arriaga’s wife, Catherine Ramos, said in Spanish that she was glad her husband will return home to be with his children.

“I’m thankful for the court, for giving my husband the opportunity to pursue this,” she said.

Arriaga was one of five people whose arrest in March at the Lawrence office of US Citizenship and Immigration Services caused outrage among immigrant advocates because those arrested had no criminal records, had been in the country for several years, and were taking a corrective path to earn legal residency but were detained without bail.

A spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement said at the time that the five people had final orders for deportation that made them eligible for detention, but immigrant advocates said the action seemed to mark a shift in US immigration policy. In the past, authorities might have arrested someone at a government office, but would release them after processing paperwork, especially if they had not committed any crimes, according to immigration lawyers.

At least one of the other people arrested has since been released, but the status of the other three was not immediately known Friday. They have not been identified by officials.

Lawyers for Arriaga acknowledged that he stayed in the country despite a 2001 deportation order, but they said he stayed to work and support his mother and sisters. Since then, he has paid taxes, married a US citizen, and had four children.If he is married to a U.S. citizen doesn't that exempt him from deportation?

By Friday afternoon, McFadden and William Silvis, an attorney for the US Department of Justice, told Wolf that they had reached an agreement: Authorities would release Arriaga while he continues the process to earn legal residency. Immigration officials can review his case if he is not successful....

A traffic stop in Dartmouth turned into a pursuit that left one motorist injured and his car in flames Friday morning, authorities said.

A State Police trooper was driving on Interstate 195 east at about 9 a.m. when he saw Jovan Rivers, 31, of Fall River, driving a 2000 Mercury Marquis while wearing large headphones, State Police said in a statement.

The trooper pulled the car over along Reed Road in Dartmouth because the driver’s use of headphones qualified as impeded driving, said State Police spokesman David Procopio. Rivers allegedly refused to show the trooper his license or registration and sped off while the trooper was out of the car, according to the statement....

A 13-year-old boy was arrested Friday on drug charges after he allegedly gave marijuana-laced brownies to several Plymouth South Middle School classmates who became sick and were taken to the hospital, officials said.

Five male students, 13 and 14-years-old, ate the brownies Friday morning at school. They experienced “adverse effects” and were first brought to the school nurse before being taken by ambulance to Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Plymouth, officials said.

The school nurse thought “they should get an outside medical view,” said Plymouth Schools Superintendent Gary Maestas in a phone interview.

"Health care to be a defining issue in next election cycles" by Philip Rucker Washington Post May 06, 2017

WASHINGTON — With one hasty and narrow vote, House Republicans have all but guaranteed that health care will be one of the most pivotal issues shaping the next two election cycles.The next one is 18 months out and a lot could change.

The decision could affect congressional, governor, and state legislator races in the 2018 midterms as well as President Trump’s possible reelection bid in 2020.

All those voters were for Obummercare in the first place. It's one reason among many that middle America turned to Trump, and ever since WaPo has been spinning love for Obummercare among the populace.

On Friday, the Cook Political Report, which evaluates the political environment in all 435 congressional districts, shifted its assessments in 20 House races in favor of the Democrats — some from solidly Republican to likely Republican, others from likely Republican to lean Republican, and more still from lean Republican to toss-up.

Thursday’s vote ‘‘guarantees Democrats will have at least one major on-the-record vote to exploit in the next elections,’’ wrote David Wasserman, the report’s House editor.

He added that the new dynamic ‘‘is consistent with past scenarios that have generated a midterm wave’’ and ‘‘almost a mirror image of 2010.’’OMG, you have just been given the rigged results of the 2018 "change" election!!

The Globe is even hollering racism in the face of their other articles claiming repeal would hurt the very poor and rural whites that swept Trump into office.One could almost say they are obsessed with him.

BRANCHBURG, N.J. — President Trump signed his first piece of major legislation on Friday behind closed doors at his home in central New Jersey.

Retired union coal miners won a $1.3 billion provision to preserve health benefits for more than 22,000 retirees. House Democrats won funding to give Puerto Rico’s cash-strapped government $295 million to help ease its Medicaid burden.

Trump is working a long weekend from his residence at a golf club in Bedminster. The White House claims staying in New Jersey saves taxpayers money, compared with the cost of staying at Trump Tower in New York, although it is estimated to cost the government and local authorities hundreds of thousands of dollars.

In other matters Friday:

■ Army secretary: Mark Green, the Republican state senator from Tennessee who was picked by Trump to be Army secretary, has withdrawn from consideration. He stepped aside amid intensifying criticism over his remarks about LGBT Americans and Muslims.

Several Democrats have denounced Green for declaring that being transgender is a disease. He is opposed to gay marriage. Green said ‘‘false and misleading attacks’’ against him have made his nomination a distraction. He said his life of public service and Christian beliefs have been mischaracterized for political gain.

During a speech last September, Green urged that a stand be taken against ‘‘the indoctrination of Islam’’ in public schools. He also referred to the ‘‘Muslim horde’’ that invaded Constantinople centuries ago.

■ White House drug czar: The Trump administration is moving to gut the office of the White House ‘‘drug czar,’’ according to a preliminary budget document and an e-mail that its acting director has circulated to agency staff.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy is the lead White House office shaping policy on the nation’s opioid crisis, among other responsibilities.Good! We don't need a "drug czar."

"A cargo plane contracted by UPS went off the runway and over a steep, wooded hillside Friday. Officials have no idea why the plane, which made regular runs to the airport, crashed. The weather in Charleston was sunny and clear. News outlets quoted Kent Carper, Kanawha County Commission president, as saying the plane came in sideways, struck the runway early, and rolled down the hill...." 2 die as cargo plane goes off runway in West Virginia...."

"US warplanes banned from ‘deescalation zones’ in Syria, Russia says" by Anne Barnard New York Times May 05, 2017

BEIRUT — United States and allied aircraft will be banned from flying over much of Syria in a deal between Iran, Russia, and Turkey, a senior Russian diplomat said on Friday.

The diplomat, Aleksandr Lavrentiev, also seemed to sketch out a broader geographical no-fly zone for US and coalition military planes. He said they would be allowed to fly only in eastern Syria over Islamic State-held areas, apparently excluding the entire western spine of the country.This could lead to open confrontation between the U.S. and Russia, but I stand by my comments yesterday. It is looking like all the great powers are getting their chunks of Syria.

There was no immediate comment from the US military or from the Trump administration.

Russian officials said the plan went into effect at midnight Friday, but it will be at least another month before the details are worked out and the safe areas are fully established....In the interim I'm sure there will be an upswing in terror attacks along with another chemical weapons charge or two.

"US military member killed in Somalia, first American death since 1993" by Abdi Guled Associated Press May 05, 2017

MOGADISHU, Somalia — A US service member has been killed in Somalia during an operation against the extremist group al-Shabab — the first American combat death there in more than two decades — as the United States steps up its fight against the Al Qaeda-linked organization in a country that remains largely chaos.

The United States pulled out of Somalia after that incident in which two helicopters were shot down in the capital, Mogadishu, and bodies of Americans were dragged through the streets.It's been a shadow war ever since.

The US Africa Command said the service member was killed Thursday during the operation near Barii, about 40 miles west of Mogadishu. The Pentagon said two other service members were wounded.

A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Captain Jeff Davis, said the United States has been working with the Somali National Army to counter al-Shabab since 2013 with the goal of ‘‘degrading this Al Qaeda affiliate’s ability to recruit, train, and plot external terror attacks throughout the region and the United States.’’

Both the United States and Somalia in recent weeks have declared new efforts against al-Shabab. President Trump has approved expanded military operations against the extremist group, including more aggressive airstrikes....The rest that was SITEd is sh**.

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